"It is my deepest hope that Canada will match its new legal maturity with that degree of political maturity which will allow us to make a total commitment to the Canadian ideal. I speak of a Canada where men and women of...the diverse cultures of the world, demonstrate the will to share this land in peace, in justice, and with mutual respect." Pierre Trudeau, 17/4/82
I've always thought that Pierre Trudeau must have had a real hate on for Canada, to have plotted and planned so hard to transform (read: destroy) the country that my generation grew up in. What did we French- and English-speaking Canadians -- not forgetting the Indians and Eskimos (oops, First Nations and Innu) -- do to deserve having our country transformed into the hodge-podge of competing and incompatible cultures in which we find ourselves today?
The rot set in with the ultra-liberal open-door immigration policies of the 1970s. Prior to that, God forgive us, we had tried to attract people of Christian, European origin, who would have at least an even chance of being able to get along with the majority of Canadians who were also (at least nominally) Christian and (undeniably) of European ancestry.
Having opened the floodgates, the Trudeau government then decreed that we who were here first had better learn to get along with our "New Neighbours" -- the two most dreaded words in Canadian English. So multiculturalism became the policy of the federal government, and millions of our tax dollars were poured down the ratholes of ethnic media, multicultural festivals, diversity training programmes...the list goes on.
Thirty years ago, "multicult festivals" like Toronto's Caravan and Brampton's Carabram (who came up with the name first?) enjoyed a measure of popularity and success. One could visit the pavilions and sample the cultures and cuisines of 10, 20 or even 30+ different countries. 1000s of us -- even recent immigrants from Britain -- got all enthused about folk dancing, eating indescribable food ("it takes almost like chicken") and of course buying kitschy handicrafts.
Caravan is defunct, but Carabram is still alive...just. For those who haven't been, you pay $10 for a "passport" which lets you visit a dozen or more "national pavilions," which are located in church basements or ethnic club buildings.
You can buy kielbasa or goat curry or lasagna and watch children, teenagers and older amateurs attempt folk dancing in colourful native costumes. The idea is to break down barriers between ethnic groups, although the reverse effect is sometimes observed.
Mostly, though, multicult festivals of this kind are a chance for three levels of governments and three levels of politicians to court the ethnic vote, and for the rest of us to show how open-minded and tolerant we are. After all, the rest of us are Canadians, eh! (Is this right? ed.)
But to judge from a visit to Carabram this weekend, the bloom is off the rose. This year there were just over a dozen "countries" represented (if you count Hawaii and the Caribbean Community) and the quality of the food and entertainment ain't what it used to be. (What is? ed.)
What went wrong? Does the almost-palpable apathy of hosts and guests alike mean that we just don't like folk festivals any more? Or is there some underlying significance, such as a diminished tolerance for the presence of strangers in our midst?
Every now and then, probably on CBC's "Metro Morning", you'll hear some "professional ethnic" explaining what makes Canada so marvellous. He'll say that we don't follow the Americans' ideal of the melting-pot. "We are free to be ourselves, no matter where we came from. That's multiculturalism."
The comparison of the American melting pot and the Canadian mosaic is one of the oldest cliches in Canadian mythology. It is complete and utter nonsense.
Multiculturalism originally appeared on Canada's national agenda because many people, being neither British nor French in background, felt left out by the mandate of the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism. So in 1971 the government of Canada made multiculturalism official policy.
This led in 1972 to a Minister of State (Multiculturalism), and that in turn meant we needed a Canadian Multiculturalism Council, which was duly set up in 1973 and is still doing what it does best -- that is, making warm and encouraging sounds about how we should all try to play nice together. After all, that's the law. (Yes, there is a Canadian Multiculturalism Act. You could look it up!)
Although the professional ethnics and liberal media would like us to think that these activities do Good Things for Canada (besides employing civil servants), not all members of designated ethnic groups are grateful. Some of them don't even vote Liberal any more! And the non-designated tax-paying public doesn't seem particularly happy about the whole thing either.
But hey...multiculturalism at least demonstrates that we aren't a melting pot! But then...neither is the USA. Most immigrant Americans never took that idea seriously. They retained the customs and identities of their countries of origin, just like we did, painting them over with a couple of coats of red-white-and-blue patriotism.
In Canada, we didn't go quite that far. We don't wrap ourselves in the flag. In some places, we don't even sing O Canada at the beginning of the school day. Many Canadians describe themselves by province or region ("I'm from Quebec." "I'm from Down East.") ahead of their country.
And huge populations of immigrants describe themselves according to their ethnicity, rather than their "new homeland". They show no interest whatever in giving up their customs, language, even their way of dress, for the sake of becoming "Canadian".
Multicult festivals like Carabram attract less attention and sparser audiences each year. Even the "ethnics" don't bother turning out any more. Perhaps it's a case of "same old, same old". Or perhaps the idea of multiculturalism has itself grown tired.
Some of us like, or at least tolerate diversity and pluralism. But enforced multiculturalism -- "Love your neighbour...or else!" -- is another matter. Most countries with any pretensions to democracy allow citizens to live as they wish, associate with whom they wish...or not, if they wish. We don't need to have "the brotherhood of man" shoved down our throats.
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